“That’s so fucking cool!! What kind of shifters? Wait! Don’t tell me they are actual fucking dragons?!”
Atreyu cracked a sad smile. “They are dragons.”
Mor’s grin faded from her face as she looked at Atreyu. “What am I missing?”
Max watched his brother struggle for a moment before saying, “Atreyu was…involved…with the advisor to the King. It didn’t end well.”
“Ah.” Mor stood and walked around to Atreyu, wrapping her arms around him from behind. “That’s what drove ya’ll to move to the human realm.”
Atreyu leaned his head against Mor. “It is. And it was awful. But since it led us to you I’ll never regret it.”
She kissed the top of his head, let him go, and then walked to sit back in her chair. Max could see a mask fall over her as she looked back at Atreyu. “What do you suggest we do?” Max hadn’t thought he could love her more, but she kept surprising him.
With a small sigh, Atreyu sat up. “If we don’t want to use conscripts, then we need the Pendragon.”
Mor nodded. “Then what do we do? Send a first contact group?”
Ethan chuckled. “We aren’t meeting aliens. Although I like how you think.” He grinned at Mor.
“So then what?”
“We send a diplomatic party. Who should be part of it?” Cassandra broke in.
Isabella stood and began to pace around the room. Mor followed her progress as she walked the room. “We need to send someone who will appeal to the King’s ego. It cannot just be anyone. Not to mention he’s unlikely to believe we found the lost family.” She paused and looked at Mor.
“So you would suggest…?”
“The most logical one would be you, Your Majesty.”
Max frowned as arguments broke out again. He sat back and looked at Isabella with a raised eyebrow. When she nodded, he cleared his throat and pushed back his chair, making sure it scrapped loudly across the floor. “We need the Pendragons, right?” When everyone nodded he continued, “And we all know he is an arrogant prick who needs his ego stroked and is easily offended.” After the snickers died, Max finished, “So what’s the best way to do that?”
“Send me.”
Chapter 5
Mor
They were all staring at Mor. She looked around at each of them. “If this is something we really need, then shouldn’t I be the one to ask for it? Who else could convince the king?”
“We could send two of your mates,” Ethan spoke up.
The guys all protested and then everyone started arguing. Mor ran a tired hand across her face. Were meetings always like this? She had never seen one like this. Well, she’d never been in a meeting like this so maybe that was it? She had never been allowed in her father’s meetings and then she had avoided sorority meetings like the plague. Now, some of the group were standing and shouting. With an annoyed grimace, Mor stood up. No one stopped arguing. With a huff, she left her spot at the head of the table and started to walk out of the room. As she walked, everyone fell silent one by one. When she reached the door she turned around to look at them.
“When you can act like adults, let me know.” Her voice was scathing. She did not have time to wrangle them into shape. She didn’t even know what the fuck she was doing! How was she supposed to keep them in line, too? Mor made her way to the front of the house and then stood there, not sure where to go. She didn’t want to go outside because there were too many people out there. She wasn’t sure how to act with all of them. She could go up to the suite, but it was really too early for her to justify a nap. Just then her stomach growled. Yes! Lunch! Mor turned and went to find the kitchen. She was sure Trisha would have something for her. As soon as she walked into the chaos of the kitchen, everything stopped.
Trisha spun around when all the movements stopped. “What are ye all doing? Get back ta work.” She hurried over to Mor. “What can I do fer ye, Yer Majesty?”
Mor suppressed her automatic sigh at the title. She knew it was for show. “Do you think I can get something for lunch?”
“I was just about ta serve lunch in the dining room. Would ye like ta eat there or elsewhere?”
“Elsewhere. Definitely elsewhere. I just want to get some lunch and watch a movie. Max said there was someplace I could do that?”
She looked thoughtfully at Mor before responding. “Let me just get a basket together and I’ll take ye ta the media room.”
“Thank you!” Mor stood quietly by the door, trying to stay out of the way. As soon as Trisha came back, Mor tried to take the basket out of her hands only to have them swatted by Trisha. Rolling her eyes, she followed Trisha upstairs and to a room she hadn’t been in. “How did y’all make human technology work here?” She took in the movie screen and reclining couches. A movie afternoon was just what she needed.
“Magic, lass. How else?” She laughed. “Dinnae ask me how, the boyos made it work.”
Mor grinned and collapsed on to the couch. She tried to take the basket again, but Trisha started laying everything out on the coffee table. “Now, ye want ta tell me why ye doonae wish to eat with the others?”
Mor groaned and lay back on the couch, arm over her eyes. “I left when they were screaming at each other.”
“What were they upset over, lass?”
“Well, we got as far as we definitely need help if we aren’t going to conscript non-fighters. That led to needing the help of the Pendragon Kingdom and then sending me as an emissary and then they were screaming about who should go,” Mor huffed.
“Ah. So a typical council meeting, then.”
Mor sat up and stared at her incredulously. “Seriously? That shit’s normal?”
“Aye, lass. All those dominate personalities, what did ye expect?”
“I don’t know, maybe for them to act like adults?”
Trisha burst out laughing. “Oh my dear, sweet, girl. Dinnae worry. Ye’ll get used ta it.”
“I don’t want to get used to it,” Mor whined.
“Come now, lass. Yer no tellin’ me ye didna want ta yell back?”
“Of course I did! I just didn’t think I was supposed to.”
“Well, next time ye yell back at them. Give them a taste of their own medicine. Ye hear me, lass?” She wagged a finger at Mor.
“Yes ma’am.” Mor grinned. “I thought I was supposed to try and act queenly.”
“Be yerself. Doona worry about what yer supposed to be.” She waved her hand. “If yer always worrying about whether or not ye live up to some expectation ye’ll always fail. I believe ye’ll be a great queen.” With that she patted Mor’s hand and left the room.
Mor hesitated for a moment before grabbing the remote from the table and turning on the system. After a moment, she selected Wonder Woman and settled in. Mor was totally wrapped up in the movie and was making her way through her lunch when she heard the door to the room open. She ignored it, figuring whoever it was could come in and talk with her if they wanted. A moment later, Max walked around the side of the couch and settled next to her. She didn’t say anything as he picked her feet up, pulled off her shoes, and started massaging her feet.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. I was just tired of the yelling. Trisha says that I should yell back next time.” Mor grinned at him.
“I agree with that. I think it’d be fun to see you let loose on them. I think you’ll like it more than you think you will.”
Just then Ben, Sebastian, and Atreyu walked in. Atreyu plopped on the couch right next to Mor and pulled her back into him. “How’s it goin’, beautiful?”
“Better now.” Mor smiled back at him. “Did y’all have a good lunch?”
“Well, I don’t know that good is the word I would use, darling.” Sebastian frowned from the other side of the couch.
Atreyu snorted. “Yeah. It was silent.”
“No one talked?”
“Nope. We started to go looking for you but Trisha made us wait. She said you needed some space.”
Mor nodded. “She was right.” They quieted down and finished watching the movie. When it was over, Mor stood and stretched. “I suppose we need to go back and finish the meeting. Ugh.”
The guys all chuckled. “We probably should, darling.” Sebastian held his hand out to her. “Come on. Come put us all in our place.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her breathless.
“Do we have to go right now?” Mor pressed up against him, running her hands inside his shirt and tracing his abs.
Sebastian groaned, “Bloody hell, woman.” He dipped his head to kiss her again only to be pulled back by Ben.
“Later, Sebastian. She really does need to go put everyone in their place. They need to recognize that she’s the queen.”
“Fine. Let’s go show them who is queen. And then go to our room,” Mor grumbled and walked out the door, ignoring the laughter behind her. Men. Getting her all riled up and then making her go work. Especially now that she knew what they were capable of. It had been a dry week since her birthday because of all the working. That shit needed to end. “Get the others,” Mor tossed over her shoulder as she made her way to the War Room.
She went immediately to her chair at the head of the table and sat down. Mor folded her hands on the table in front of her. Ben and Max sat on either side of her. She assumed that Atreyu and Sebastian had gone to get their families. After a few minutes of waiting in silence, Atreyu came in with his family behind him. Mor didn’t say anything as they sat down. Cassandra started to say something, but Mor shook her head no before she could get anything out. When Sebastian’s family followed him in, she watched as they sat down. When everyone was seated and waiting, Mor finally spoke.
“It seems as if we all need a reminder of who is ultimately in charge.” She felt her hair start dancing across her shoulders and could see the sparks from the corners of her eyes. “While I understand that y’all have different experiences and I have no experience running anything, it’s time we came to an understanding.” She stood, leaning forward onto the table and making eye contact with each person around the table. When she got to her males, they grinned at her. “I want your advice and your help. I know I am inexperienced. But in the end, I will make the decisions. You wanted a queen. Now you’ve got me.” When no one said anything else, Mor straightened up but didn’t sit down. “I want arguments for and against me going to the Pendragon kingdom.”
Amelia leaned forward. “That’s exactly why you shouldn’t go, Your Majesty. We just got you back and cannot risk you.”
Mor noticed that her mates were shaking their heads. Interesting. “Any different opinions? Y’all were screaming about it earlier, so I assume there are?”
Michael cleared his throat before speaking. “I would say that is exactly why you need to go. The Pendragon will need proof that you are who we say you are.”
Joshua nodded. “I hate to disagree with you, love, but he is correct.” Amelia glared at him, but he just shook his head.
“Anyone else?” When no one else spoke, Mor gave them an irritated look. “All that fucking screaming earlier, and three of you speak now?” She shook her head. “Fucking children.”
“How dare you speak to us that way!” Amelia snapped.
“Then don’t act like a child, Amelia. I don’t have time for that shit. Let’s recap what I’ve had to deal with. My family turned out to be psychopaths hired by another psychopath to raise me since he killed my birth family. I learned I have four - four! - mates and I’m not actually human. Oh. And I’m a queen. Which is not nearly as cool as The Princess Diaries made it out to be!”
Amelia bowed her head. “I apologize.”
Mor paused before nodding her head in acceptance. “Now, no one else has anything to say? Good. I will be going with Sebastian, Max, Ben, and Atreyu. Now, I will leave it up to the rest of you to decide who else needs to come with us. I don’t want to start shit where none actually exists.” She stood and walked out of the room.
When the door shut behind her, Mor bent over, hands on her knees. “Holy shit that was hard.” She heard laughter and looked up to see Trisha standing there. “Did you hear that?”
“Aye, lass, I did. Ye did very well for your first time.” She patted Mor on the back. “It’ll get easier. And they’ll get used to ye.”
“Sure it will. I need a drink. Is it too early for that?” A hand touched her back and Mor jumped. “Fuck!” She whipped around to see Max standing there. “Warn me or something. Please.” Her heart was racing and she was breathing hard.
“I thought you heard the door.” Max frowned. “I need to teach you how to use your magic to alert you to others.”
“Do we have to do that now?” Mor groaned.
“Tell you what. Let me teach you that and then I promise I’ll get you your own bottle of wine.”
“Or whiskey?”
“Or whiskey.”
She looked at him thoughtfully. “Fine. I guess that’ll be good. It is a little bit early in the day for drinking. And it’s too late in the day for mimosas.”
Max smiled and took her hand. “I promise it won’t be bad.”
* * *
Max lied. He fucking lied. ‘Not that bad’?! No, it was definitely that bad. She finally had figured out how to set the alerts, which meant that she had spent the last three hours being scared by Max. Fuck. Fuck this shit. She stomped back toward the house. It was definitely going to be a whiskey night and not a fucking wine night. And she was hungry. Fuck. Probably she should eat before drinking ,otherwise she would be really wasted really fast. “Damn.”
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Max rubbed her back.
She shot him a glare that deepened when he just smiled back at her. “You don’t know?”
“I mean besides that. I know you’re upset at how long that took.”
“‘Won’t be that bad?’” Mor air quoted.
“Well, you’ve picked up on everything else so quickly I really didn’t think it would take very long…” He trailed off.
“Humph.” Mor stomped inside. “Do you think there is still dinner?”
“Well…my guess is no one ate because you weren’t here.”
“What?! Why the fuck would they do that?”
“Protocol, sweetie.” Max shrugged.
“And you didn’t tell me because….?”
“It was more important for you to learn to set your wards than it was for everyone to eat at a specific time.” He smiled. “I also sent a message to Trisha that we would be late.”
“Unbelievable.” She threw her hands up and went into the dining room. Her other guys and their families were standing around chatting. Snacks were on the table and drinks had been served. Relief stole through her. At least they were taken care of and weren’t starving. As soon as she was fully in the room her guys came up to her and each wrapped her in a hug.
“How did it go, darling?”
“It was awful.” Mor let Sebastian lead her to her chair and help her sit.
Atreyu pulled her hand into his and brought her hand up. With a wink, he kissed her palm. Mor shuddered when she felt his tongue flick out. “We’ll make it up to you later, beautiful.”
“Y’all better.” Dinner was brought in then, and Mor let the conversation flow around her. Eventually, Ben cleared his throat to get her attention.
“I want to run the plans for the trip to the Pendragons by you.” Mor rolled her eyes but nodded. Ben continued, “We’re going to go with a small contingent of fighters. We won’t leave you unguarded but since we won’t have far to actually travel to the border of their lands, we shouldn’t need many.”
“How far away is it? Are we that close to the border?”
“No, but we can use the fairy rings to get almost to the border. We’ll only have about a day’s worth of travel.”
Mor nodded. “I trust you, Ben. If that’s what you think is needed, then that’s what we’ll do.”
He smiled at her. “Thank you, love.”
By
the time dinner was over, Mor was feeling much better. She started to go upstairs, but was pulled aside by Cassandra. “How can I help you?” Mor forced herself to stay focused on Cassandra. She could feel her guys behind her and really just wanted to go upstairs with them.
“Your Majesty.” Cassandra hesitated. Mor narrowed her eyes. If Cassandra was using her title then this was a formal request. “Your Majesty, I would like to request that you visit the camp.”
Mor drew back. “What? Why?”
Michael came up behind Cassandra and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “They don’t know you and they’re here to fight for you. And many of them will die for you.”
Mor felt her face pale. “I don’t want anyone to die for me.”
Sebastian slipped his hand into hers. “But some will, darling.”
She shook her head. “No. No. We can’t do this. I’m not worth that kind of sacrifice. I won’t be the cause of their deaths!”
Max stepped in front of Cassandra and Michael, capturing Mor’s attention. “They’re going to die, one way or another.”
“What do you mean?” Her face was horrified as she looked at the conviction written across Max’s face.
“I know what my family is like. If they gain control or, Gods forbid, Boris gains control? They will die. Many will die immediately as they solidify their hold. Others will die for stupid reasons. And the rest?” He paused. “They won’t really be living. I know, because that’s how I lived.”
Tears started falling down Mor’s face. “I don’t want them to get hurt because of me.”
Atreyu kissed the back of her neck. “And that’s the reason you should be queen. You don’t even know them and you already care for them.”
Ben took her other hand and pulled on it. “Come on, love. Let’s get you a drink and then go meet your people. You’ve been avoiding it, but they need to see you and talk with you.”
“By myself?!”
“Definitely not. Between the four of us, we know many of the people here. And the ones we don’t I’m sure we’ll be introduced to. We got you.”
Fae- Beginnings Page 5